Hervey Bay’s superstar triathlete on his way to Olympics

The young champion competed at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018 and made it his goal to get to Tokyo.

Hervey Bay’s superstar triathlete Matt Hauser is living his dream after it was confirmed he would compete for Australia at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan next month.

The young champion competed at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018 and made it his goal to get to the Olympics.

Now, it has been confirmed that he has made the six-strong triathlon team, with Australia able to qualify the most athletes of any nation.

Australia’s triathlon team was announced last week, made up of Rio Olympians Ashleigh Gentle and Aaron Royle, and Olympic debutants Jake Birtwhistle, Hauser, Jaz Hedgeland and Emma Jeffcoat.

On top of their individual races, the athletes will contest the mixed triathlon relay in the event’s Olympic debut, an event Australia has had great international success in.

In every mixed relay world championships they’ve contested in since 2015, Australia has won a gold, three silver and a bronze medal. The team is on the quest for another gold in Tokyo, being the only nation to fill the six athlete quota.

Under the mixed relay format, four athletes- two men and two women- will have to swim for 300m, cycle for 8km and run for 2km before tapping the hand of their teammate to pass the relay.

Hauser celebrated the announcement on his Facebook page.

“What a bloody honour and a journey it’s been so far,” he wrote.

“In one month’s time I’ll be laying it on the line for not only myself and my country but for every single person who has shown me love on this roller coaster ride.”

Hauser will join the ranks of others from the Fraser Coast who have competed at the highest level, including hockey player Clover Maitland, who competed in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and Jarrod Fletcher, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.